Dayton Town Board restores lower speed limit
By Robert Cloud
The Dayton Town Board voted Tuesday, Aug. 18, to lower the speed limit on Smith Road.
Residents along Smith Road have sought to restore the 35 mph speed limit since the town board raised it to 45 mph in October 2012.
Tom Mangert, who spoke at town board meetings, raised public safety concerns and offered former town board members evidence of speeding and higher rates of crashes on Smith Road.
At the September 2013 meeting, Mangert presented statistics showing there were 16 crashes on Smith Road from 2005-12, more than any other town road, excluding the state and county highways.
He also provided a speed survey conducted by the Waupaca County Highway Department on Aug. 8-15, 2013. With 1,860 vehicles traveling Smith Road in a single week, 469 were speeding over 45 mph.
“Who is being protected?” Mangert asked. “Certainly not people driving on Smith Road, not people walking on Smith Road and not a kid on a bike.”
After nearly three years of trying to persuade Dayton to reduce the speed limit on Smith Road, Mangert’s efforts were rewarded by the town board’s August decision.
In its resolution to adjust the speed limit, the town board noted many of the concerns Mangert has been raising.
“Smith Road is less than two miles long with significant pedestrian traffic and multiple areas conducive to single or multi-car traffic accidents,” according to the resolution.
“A trained Wisconsin State Trooper, after driving Smith Road with a Township Board member, recommended lowering the speed limit on Smith Road to 35 mph,” the resolution added.
The board voted unanimously to lower the speed limit.
In other business, the town board passed a resolution requiring the town clerk to begin scanning town documents in order to store them electronically.
Another resolution establishes new check signing procedures in order to avoid paying the same invoices twice.
The town clerk will attach the payment checks to their matching invoices, review both the checks and invoices and then pass them on to the town chairman, who will also review them.
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